Author Kate Price - Kate Price

Kate Price grew up in a small mill town in central Pennsylvania with her sister and parents in northern Appalachia. At the insistence of her mother, and through her academic accomplishments, Price escaped the unbroken cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, mental illness, and abuse that had plagued her family for generations. She started a new life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in pursuit of her master’s and Ph.D. But despite having left this dark world behind, it still kept a firm grip on her.

An OPRAH DAILY Best Book of 2025 • A BOOKS-A-MILLION Best Memoir of 2025
A ZIBBY OWENS Best Memoir of 2025 • A BOOKREPORTER Best of 2025
A BOOK RIOT Must-Read Memoir of 2025
An AMAZON Editors' Pick for Memoir • A BOOKBUB Best New Memoir
An INDIE NEXT Pick by IndieBound • A WASHINGTON POST Noteworthy Book

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Click to read an excerpt of This Happened to Me: A Reckoning on Oprah Daily

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“A brilliant and moving account of a journey of healing from the confusion and betrayal of intrafamiliar sexual abuse. The complex and arduous labor of learning to accept knowing what you know and feeling what you feel, despite its devastating impact on your sense of belonging and community. Kate Price’s book reminds me of the greatest lesson from my old teacher: 'you have only one textbook, and that is your patients'."
— Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.,
New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

"Kate Price’s journey is sometimes dark and often harrowing, but in This Happened To Me she confronts her demons with fierce, eloquent enlightenment. Price not only rises above the hurt and hate, she uses her hard-won insights to shine a light for others."
— Jeannette Walls,
New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

“Out of the ravages of a childhood that would have left almost anyone scarred to the point of life-long silence comes this gorgeous, blistering, monumental achievement of a book. Kate Price has found her voice, and what a voice it is. Read it and weep, and rejoice at the power of the human spirit to transcend.”
— Dani Shapiro,
New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance

"A gripping story, told with grace and compassion, about surviving horrific childhood abuse that went on for years with the complicity of a small town community. In daring to speak about the unspeakable, Kate Price challenges all of us to face the reality of child sex trafficking and to put a stop to it."
— Judith L. Herman, M.D.,
author of the groundbreaking work Trauma and Recovery and
Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice

Kate Price

On July 31, 2022 the article “Kate Price Remembers Something Terrible” appeared in the Globe Sunday Magazine. The story, written by Boston Globe journalist Janelle Nanos, chronicles Price and Nanos’s decade-long collaboration to investigate her commercial sexual exploitation history in northern Appalachia. A story of unparalleled resilience and determination, Price’s life is filled with moments of heart-wrenching survival and tender perseverance. Her expertise sheds light on the complex crisis of child sex trafficking and the story of her journey is a testament to grit and resilience. Nanos was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature reporting for this story. Please note, the Boston Globe article is behind a paywall, requiring a subscription or library access to view.

Mill Girl Books

This summer, I found a kindred soul for Mill Girl Books: Booktenders in Barboursville, West Virginia. I traveled to Cabell County to celebrate the paperback release of This Happened to Me at the invitation of co-owner Ashley Skeen, who had reached out a year prior to praise my memoir. Ashley’s ability to handsell my book—often by simply telling customers, "Just read the first two paragraphs of the prologue"—left me deeply humbled. The moment I stepped inside this small but mighty shop (described by one Google reviewer as "horrifically woke"), I knew I was home. With its steaming tea kettle and brimming shelves, Booktenders felt like a soft blanket draped across my shoulders. Part sanctuary, part salon, the standing-room-only crowd jammed into the shop's the event space shared a palpable sense of both collective trauma and a deep search for healing through story and community. I’m profoundly grateful to know that spaces like the one I’m evisioning already exist. Their blueprints are essential in a fractured world.

Keep checking this spot for updates about Mill Girl Books, the independent bookshop I am opening in central Pennsylvania. The name Mill Girl Books honors my mother and grandmothers, who were all mill girls in my hometown's textile factories (only one of the three has shuttered). My dream is to create a safe space for Appalachian readers and writers, continuing the literary traditions in central Pennsylvania that helped shape me. Books and my hometown library saved my life.

In the meantime, check out my new Mill Girl Books Spotify channel. You can listen to the This Happened to Me: A Reckoning playlist, as well as other artists and seasonal playlists that will play in the background at the bookshop.